100 Happy Days - Day 14

Day 14

Vegas was all about spooking tonight, including during dinner time and during our ride. But even though there were a few (okay, a lot) of times I thought I may end up in the dirt tonight, it was fun to ride a "hot" horse again.

100 Happy Days - Day 13

Day 13:

Sometimes when the universe knows you are having a bad day, it sends a "cheer up" sign. In this case, a beautiful butterfly.

100 Happy Days - Day 12

Day 12

Sometimes it is the little things in life that make you happy ... such as cooking a good meal. I am a failure at being motivated to cook most of the time and always feel accomplished when I do so tonight's picture is of tonight's dinner. And it was much better than expected, especially since I decided to make a mix to marinate the chicken in for a while.

100 Happy Days - Day 11

Day 11

I took a few minutes today to take a photo of the queen of the barn after grooming her. She's not looking too shabby for a 23 year old!

100 Happy Days - Day 10

Day 10:

Today is a 2-for-1. I'm not a huge morning person but with my Friday farm job, I am always up before the sun on those days, making for some awesome sunrises. My favorite time of day is sunset so I had to snap a photo because of how spectacular it was tonight. Sadly, I snapped it with my cell phone so it didn't get the true colors in tonight's sunset.

100 Happy Days - Day 9

Day 9:

This may be cheating, but it's still a photo, even if it looks screwy because of my screenshot program's lack of ability. 

A friend and I were talking tonight and got on the topic of horse trainers, which then turned to ones we really respect. While I respect a lot of trainers, there is one that I hold to a higher standard than all others. This trainer the example of what I want to be for a long time but every once in a while in life it's hard to remember your ultimate goal when looking at all the little steps you want to accomplish along the way so it was nice for that friend to inadvertently get me to put that bigger goal into words again. 

100 Happy Days - Day 8

Day 8: Watching Little Women

A friend challenged me to watch this to see if it makes me as angry as it made her. It did, but it's always fun to see a young Christian Bale.

100 Happy Days - Day 7

Day 7:

"If I give you this flower, will you give me a treat?"

100 Happy Days - Day 6

Day 6:

It was raining out but still warm enough that opening the door and letting some fresh air in was a good idea. Considering three months ago it was too cold to be outside for more than 5 minutes at a time, it is awesome to be able to leave the door open most of the day.

100 Happy Days - Day 5

Day 5

It's Saturday movie night ... and it's starting with Easy A. 

100 Happy Days - Day 4

Another day, another horse related photo. Sorry to those reading who aren't big horse fans.

Every Friday I work on a farm prepping yearlings and every time I show up, I try to spend time with this big guy. He was the first yearling I ever handled on the farm and while he has his moments, he is a sweetheart. He sells next month and I'll be sad to see him go but I'm excited to see what he does on the track in the future!

100 Happy Days - Day 3

Day 3 picture for the Thursday win ...

I enjoy nearly every story I write but my favorites are the ones where I get to really dig into a horse's family. Looking at pedigrees and learning about successful families/spotting potential young mares to watch and figuring out crosses seem to work with certain female families is where my real passion lies and is why I love the breeding part of the industry so much. Of course there's so much more to breeding than just matching pedigrees but it is a good place to start.

100 Happy Days - Day 2

Here's my Day 2 photo for the 100 Happy Days ...

Basically I took this because I enjoy getting packages. I got this earlier this week but finally opened it today (think of it as a delayed Christmas) and there was a lot of happiness involved ... especially when I saw the big bag of M&Ms!

100 Happy Days - Day 1

Yesterday a friend sent me a website called 100 Happy Days. At first I blew it off and said I'd read it after work but during some downtime clicked on the tab I had the page open in and read through it. 

Basically the idea is that every day for 100 days, you post a photo of something that made you happy. As someone who takes way too many photos, I figured it would be fun to attempt to take one a day for 100 days and post them here. Realistically I know that I will probably forget a few days but my goal is to try and keep the challenge going until the end date (October 23) and add on the ones that I missed at the end. Hopefully it's only one or two!

So my picture for the first day is ....

To everyone (or almost everyone) but me this is just a pen with a handy dandy flash drive. But to me, it is a memory of challenges I've faced and goals I've yet to accomplish. When I found it in my purse today I knew it was the perfect thing to get this challenge started.

I was given this pen at our Darley Flying Start interview and the last time I saw it was a few days after I got feedback about what I can do to improve my chances for getting in next year. The memories it brings from the past are the hurdles I overcame just applying for the program. When the idea of applying was first brought up, I didn't think I had any chance of getting in or that I had enough people to vouch for me. It turns out that I have more people that I work with on my side than I realized before sending out requests for recommendation letters. 

Just sending the packet with my application to Ireland was a big step (there were many times during the final weeks of the process that I nearly talked myself out of it) and getting word that I was accepted for an interview was huge. The process of studying for the interview, preparing a presentation, and putting together a riding video gave me a lot of confidence, as did the actual process on the day of the interview.

I was heartbroken that I didn't get in but decided to "get back on the horse" after a week or so and emailed to get the feedback they offered. That led me to where I am today getting experience prepping yearlings, which is something I've always wanted to learn but wasn't bold enough to inquire about getting, and setting myself up for next year. The prepping yearlings experience has also had me jump confidence barriers but we'll get to that another day.

So to summarize, this pen reminds me of some not-so-great moments, but it also makes me happy because it represents how far I've grown in the past year and the major future goal I've set for myself as well.

Until next time,
Mel

Yearlings, Cars, and the Triple Crown

Hello everyone,

A bit has happened since I wrote my last blog in late May.

I survived the Triple Crown, which is always a good thing, and survived the aftermath of another failed attempt. On one hand, a failed attempt means a lot less work for me as a journalist in the weeks after the Triple Crown (even with all the controversy that surrounded the Belmont) but I almost always root for it to happen because I think that having a Triple Crown winner could definitely help the sport. As someone who wants to grow horse racing on an international level, anything that helps the sport is good in my book.

With the wrapping up of the Triple Crown came my next “adventure” as well. I found a part time job prepping yearlings on Fridays and started last week. While it is extremely hard work for my out of shape body (even if I was in shape it would be hard as nothing can really prepare you for manual farm labor), it is extremely fun and educational. I have only worked one day so far but I learned a ton and both the farm owners and yearling manager have been willing to answer every question I throw at them. If you know me, you know that I like to learn as much as possible so having people who not only answer my questions but also don’t make me feel like an idiot for asking them is the perfect set up for me.

Besides the out of shape part, the biggest challenge for me last week was that the job is an early morning wake-up call and I’m not one of those people that just pops out of bed in the morning. But much like I do when I plan on watching works at Keeneland, I popped out of bed last Friday ready to go, which is a very valuable asset.

Overall, I’m really enjoying being on the farm and getting to feel like I’m having a hand in a part of the industry. Not only am I learning a ton, but I also get to be outside and around horses (and yes, I already have a favorite), which makes me much happier than sitting in an office watching the hands on part of the racing industry go on around me. Right now I have a near perfect ratio of writing work and hands-on yearling prep so I really have the best of both worlds.

On the non-horse/job front, for those wondering about my car issues that I reported in my last blog, the car is up and running. Thankfully this time the problem was a cheap fix and I had her back in one day so all is well. Other than that, I don’t have much left to report.

Until next time,

Mel